PM says Hindus are minority in Wayanad. Making April Fools out of voters?

Just a day after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee accused the prime minister of lying day in and day out, Narendra Modi was caught bending the truth again for his convenience.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Kerala’s Wayanad seat, the PM on April 1 said Rahul Gandhi is contesting from a seat where Hindus are a minority because the Congress is scared of Hindu anger.

Modi accused the Congress of branding “peace-loving Hindus” as terrorists and insulting those who follow the religion. “That is why they [the Congress] are forced to take shelter in a minority seat [dominated by minorities],” he said addressing a rally in Maharashtra’s Wardha on April 1.

However, as per Census 2011, nearly half of the population are Hindus. The total population of Wayanad district is 817,420 as per Census 2011. Out of that, 404,460 (49.48 per cent) are Hindus while there are 234,185 (28.65 per cent) Muslims. There are around 174,453 (21.34 per cent) Christians in the district.

The Congress on March 31 announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala along with Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

Following the announcement, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress chief is feeling “uncomfortable, insecure and helpless in Amethi”.

“So, he chose to contest Wayanad seat considering it as safe because of its ethnic profile,” the senior BJP leader said.

He also dared Rahul to make his stand clear on the Sabarimala issue. “Since you have gone to Kerala supposedly to safeguard the cultural tradition of south India, please tell us what is your take on Sabarimala (temple issue). We know the stand of the Left and our stand is also known to the public,” he added.

The NDA has fielded Thushar Vellappally from the seat. On Monday, BJP president Amit Shah tweeted: “I proudly announce Thushar Vellappally, President of Bharat Dharma Jana Sena as NDA candidate from Wayanad (Kerala).”